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- HOSEA:
-
-
- CHAPTER 1
-
-
- 1. The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri,
- in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
- and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
-
- 2. The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD
- said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children
- of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom,
- departing from the LORD.
-
- 3. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which
- conceived, and bare him a son.
-
- 4. And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a
- little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the
- house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of
- Israel.
-
- 5. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the
- bow of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel.
-
- 6. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said
- unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy
- upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
-
- 7. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save
- them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by
- sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
-
- 8. Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a
- son.
-
- 9. Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my
- people, and I will not be your God.
-
- 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the
- sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it
- shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them,
- Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the
- sons of the living God.
-
- 11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel
- be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they
- shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of
- Jezreel.
-
-
- CHAPTER 2
-
-
- 1. Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters,
- Ruhamah.
-
- 2. Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife,
- neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms
- out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
-
- 3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she
- was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry
- land, and slay her with thirst.
-
- 4. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the
- children of whoredoms.
-
- 5. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived
- them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my
- lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax,
- mine oil and my drink.
-
- 6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and
- make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
-
- 7. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not
- overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them:
- then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for
- then was it better with me than now.
-
- 8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
- and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
-
- 9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time
- thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my
- wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
-
- 10. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her
- lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
-
- 11. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days,
- her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
-
- 12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she
- hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and
- I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat
- them.
-
- 13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she
- burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings
- and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me,
- saith the LORD.
-
- 14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
- wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
-
- 15. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the
- valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as
- in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out
- of the land of Egypt.
-
- 16. And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt
- call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
-
- 17. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth,
- and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
-
- 18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the
- beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the
- creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the
- sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie
- down safely.
-
- 19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will
- betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
- lovingkindness, and in mercies.
-
- 20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou
- shalt know the LORD.
-
- 21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith
- the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
-
- 22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the
- oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
-
- 23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have
- mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them
- which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say,
- Thou art my God.
-
-
- CHAPTER 3
-
-
- 1. Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of
- her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD
- toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love
- flagons of wine.
-
- 2. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for
- an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
-
- 3. And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou
- shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man:
- so will I also be for thee.
-
- 4. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a
- king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without
- an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
-
- 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the
- LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and
- his goodness in the latter days.
-
-
- CHAPTER 4
-
-
- 1. Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the
- LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because
- there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
-
- 2. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and
- committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
-
- 3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth
- therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the
- fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken
- away.
-
- 4. Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people
- are as they that strive with the priest.
-
- 5. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also
- shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
-
- 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou
- hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt
- be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
- I will also forget thy children.
-
- 7. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore
- will I change their glory into shame.
-
- 8. They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on
- their iniquity.
-
- 9. And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will
- punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
-
- 10. For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit
- whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to
- take heed to the LORD.
-
- 11. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
-
- 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff
- declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them
- to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
-
- 13. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn
- incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because
- the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit
- whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
-
- 14. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom,
- nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are
- separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore
- the people that doth not understand shall fall.
-
- 15. Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah
- offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven,
- nor swear, The LORD liveth.
-
- 16. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the
- LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
-
- 17. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
-
- 18. Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom
- continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
-
- 19. The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be
- ashamed because of their sacrifices.
-
-
- CHAPTER 5
-
-
- 1. Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and
- give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you,
- because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon
- Tabor.
-
- 2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I
- have been a rebuker of them all.
-
- 3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O
- Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.
-
- 4. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for
- the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not
- known the LORD.
-
- 5. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore
- shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall
- fall with them.
-
- 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek
- the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself
- from them.
-
- 7. They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have
- begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with
- their portions.
-
- 8. Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry
- aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.
-
- 9. Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the
- tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
-
- 10. The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound:
- therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
-
- 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he
- willingly walked after the commandment.
-
- 12. Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house
- of Judah as rottenness.
-
- 13. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then
- went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he
- not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
-
- 14. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to
- the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take
- away, and none shall rescue him.
-
- 15. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge
- their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will
- seek me early.
-
-
- CHAPTER 6
-
-
- 1. Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and
- he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
-
- 2. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will
- raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
-
- 3. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his
- going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us
- as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
-
- 4. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I
- do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the
- early dew it goeth away.
-
- 5. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain
- them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light
- that goeth forth.
-
- 6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of
- God more than burnt offerings.
-
- 7. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have
- they dealt treacherously against me.
-
- 8. Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted
- with blood.
-
- 9. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of
- priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
-
- 10. I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there
- is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
-
- 11. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I
- returned the captivity of my people.
-
-
- CHAPTER 7
-
-
- 1. When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim
- was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit
- falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers
- spoileth without.
-
- 2. And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all
- their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they
- are before my face.
-
- 3. They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the
- princes with their lies.
-
- 4. They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who
- ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be
- leavened.
-
- 5. In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with
- bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
-
- 6. For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles
- they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the
- morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
-
- 7. They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges;
- all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth
- unto me.
-
- 8. Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a
- cake not turned.
-
- 9. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not:
- yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.
-
- 10. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do
- not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
-
- 11. Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call
- to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
-
- 12. When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will
- bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them,
- as their congregation hath heard.
-
- 13. Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto
- them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have
- redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
-
- 14. And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they
- howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and
- wine, and they rebel against me.
-
- 15. Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they
- imagine mischief against me.
-
- 16. They return, but not to the most High: they are like a
- deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage
- of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of
- Egypt.
-
-
- CHAPTER 8
-
-
- 1. Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle
- against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my
- covenant, and trespassed against my law.
-
- 2. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
-
- 3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall
- pursue him.
-
- 4. They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made
- princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have
- they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
-
- 5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is
- kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to
- innocency?
-
- 6. For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore
- it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
-
- 7. For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the
- whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be
- it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
-
- 8. Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles
- as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
-
- 9. For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself:
- Ephraim hath hired lovers.
-
- 10. Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I
- gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the
- king of princes.
-
- 11. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall
- be unto him to sin.
-
- 12. I have written to him the great things of my law, but they
- were counted as a strange thing.
-
- 13. They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings,
- and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember
- their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
-
- 14. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples;
- and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire
- upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
-
-
- CHAPTER 9
-
-
- 1. Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou
- hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon
- every cornfloor.
-
- 2. The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new
- wine shall fail in her.
-
- 3. They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall
- return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
-
- 4. They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither
- shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto
- them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be
- polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the
- house of the LORD.
-
- 5. What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the
- feast of the LORD?
-
- 6. For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall
- gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for
- their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their
- tabernacles.
-
- 7. The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are
- come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual
- man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great
- hatred.
-
- 8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a
- snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his
- God.
-
- 9. They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of
- Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit
- their sins.
-
- 10. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your
- fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but
- they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame;
- and their abominations were according as they loved.
-
- 11. As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from
- the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
-
- 12. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave
- them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them
- when I depart from them!
-
- 13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but
- Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
-
- 14. Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a
- miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
-
- 15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them:
- for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine
- house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.
-
- 16. Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear
- no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the
- beloved fruit of their womb.
-
- 17. My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken
- unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
-
-
- CHAPTER 10
-
-
- 1. Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto
- himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased
- the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made
- goodly images.
-
- 2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he
- shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
-
- 3. For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared
- not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
-
- 4. They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a
- covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of
- the field.
-
- 5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves
- of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the
- priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof,
- because it is departed from it.
-
- 6. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king
- Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of
- his own counsel.
-
- 7. As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the
- water.
-
- 8. The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be
- destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their
- altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the
- hills, Fall on us.
-
- 9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there
- they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity
- did not overtake them.
-
- 10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the
- people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind
- themselves in their two furrows.
-
- 11. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to
- tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will
- make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his
- clods.
-
- 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up
- your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come
- and rain righteousness upon you.
-
- 13. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have
- eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in
- the multitude of thy mighty men.
-
- 14. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy
- fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the
- day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
-
- 15. So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great
- wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut
- off.
-
-
- CHAPTER 11
-
-
- 1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son
- out of Egypt.
-
- 2. As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed
- unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
-
- 3. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but
- they knew not that I healed them.
-
- 4. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I
- was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I
- laid meat unto them.
-
- 5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, and the Assyrian
- shall be his king, because they refused to return.
-
- 6. And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume
- his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.
-
- 7. And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they
- called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
-
- 8. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee,
- Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as
- Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled
- together.
-
- 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not
- return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One
- in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.
-
- 10. They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion:
- when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
-
- 11. They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out
- of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses,
- saith the LORD.
-
- 12. Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of
- Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful
- with the saints.
-
-
- CHAPTER 12
-
-
- 1. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind:
- he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a
- covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
-
- 2. The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish
- Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he
- recompense him.
-
- 3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his
- strength he had power with God:
-
- 4. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and
- made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he
- spake with us;
-
- 5. Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
-
- 6. Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment and
- wait on thy God continually.
-
- 7. He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he
- loveth to oppress.
-
- 8. And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out
- substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me
- that were sin.
-
- 9. And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will
- yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the
- solemn feast.
-
- 10. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied
- visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
-
- 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they
- sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in
- the furrows of the fields.
-
- 12. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served
- for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
-
- 13. And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and
- by a prophet was he preserved.
-
- 14. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall
- he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his LORD
- return unto him.
-
-
- CHAPTER 13
-
-
- 1. When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel;
- but when he offended in Baal, he died.
-
- 2. And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten
- images of their silver, and idols according to their own
- understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of
- them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
-
- 3. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early
- dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the
- whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
-
- 4. Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou
- shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
-
- 5. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great
- drought.
-
- 6. According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were
- filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten
- me.
-
- 7. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the
- way will I observe them:
-
- 8. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps,
- and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour
- them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
-
- 9. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine
- help.
-
- 10. I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in
- all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king
- and princes?
-
- 11. I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my
- wrath.
-
- 12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.
-
- 13. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is
- an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the
- breaking forth of children.
-
- 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will
- redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I
- will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
-
- 15. Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall
- come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and
- his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up:
- he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.
-
- 16. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against
- her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be
- dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
-
-
- CHAPTER 14
-
-
- 1. O israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen
- by thine iniquity.
-
- 2. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take
- away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render
- the calves of our lips.
-
- 3. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses:
- neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our
- gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
-
- 4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for
- mine anger is turned away from him.
-
- 5. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily,
- and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
-
- 6. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the
- olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
-
- 7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall
- revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall
- be as the wine of Lebanon.
-
- 8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I
- have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From
- me is thy fruit found.
-
- 9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent,
- and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and
- the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall
- therein.
-